Amid speculation that elections for the Knesset are imminent, a poll
released Sunday found that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will
retain his leadership after the next elections and will even receive
more seats than he currently has.

The New Wave poll, which was carried out for the Yisrael Hayom
newspaper, is in line with other polls recently released, all of
which have shown that the Likud will maintain its power in the next
elections.

The poll was conducted among 500 adult Israelis, including Arab
Israelis, and found that that if elections were held today,
Netanyahu’s Likud party would win 31 seats, four more than it
currently has. Labor under Shelly Yechimovich would go up four seats
and win 17 seats, while Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party
would lose one seat, ending up with 14 Knesset seats.

The party which would drop the most, according to the poll, is Kadima
headed by Shaul Mofaz. Kadima is currently the Knesset’s largest
party with 28 seats, but the poll found that if elections were held
today, it would drop to 13 seats. Former journalist Yair Lapid’s
newly formed party would receive 12 seats.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Independence party is absent from the
poll indicating, as previous polls have predicted, that he will not
pass the electoral threshold.

Respondents to the poll were also asked who they believe is most
appropriate to be the next prime minister. Here too, Netanyahu is the
winner with 29.1 percent of support. Trailing behind him are
Lieberman and Yechimovich with 9.2 percent each and Lapid with seven
percent. Only 4.6 percent of respondents said they believe Mofaz is
most appropriate to be prime minister.

Mofaz said on Sunday that the real battle in the next election will
be between him and Netanyahu.

Speaking at a Kadima conference in Petah Tikva, Mofaz said, “All the
other parties, even Yisrael Beytenu and Labor, do not have candidates
for prime minister.”